RealPage and J Turner Research Reveals Measurable Impact of Online Reputation on Apartment Property Performance

RealPage, Inc. (NASDAQ: RP), a leading global provider of software and data analytics to the real estate industry, in conjunction with J Turner Research, an online reputation management firm exclusively serving the multifamily industry, announced the results of a nearly three-year, first-of-its-kind study that reveals the measurable impact of online reputation on multifamily rental property outperformance.

According to the report, on average, properties witnessed a 3-basis-points (BPS) premium to market returns for each point a community improved its Online Reputation Assessment (ORA) score, a metric to measure and benchmark the online reputation of multifamily properties. The ORA statistical model by J Turner Research, designed for property management companies, aggregates and analyzes online ratings and reviews of over 120,000 properties in the U.S. across 20+ review sites and internet listing services (ILS), with more than 10 million reviews.

The study reviewed historical financial and operational metrics from RealPage combined with 34 months of ORA data of nearly 6,000 properties across class A, B and C assets in every decade since the 1900s, spanning affordable and conventional apartments of all sizes from fewer than 100 units to over 4,000 units in the U.S. market. Researchers identified a correlation between key variables such as raw ORA scores, change in ORA score and revenue.

“We’re excited to announce the results of the study that demonstrates and validates the relationship between changes in online reputation and revenue performance over the market,” said Rich Hughes, SVP Data Science at RealPage. “In an environment of limited rent increases and shifting prospect expectations, paired with the need to continue to drive yield and NOI, reputation is now a proven lever to impact asset performance.”

In addition to observing an average 3 BPS premium to market returns for every point a community improves its ORA score, researchers observed decreased property performance with an adverse change in online reputation. The level of impact that online reputation can have on value creation varies by market and property type, but the study confirms that the role of online reputation is consistently a factor through a positive correlation between ORA Scores and Property Performance compared to the market.